Tractor Trailer Delivers Cargo and Important Message
DUNMORE, PA – This Road Scholar Transport tractor trailer is doing more than hauling cargo. The truck is traveling the roadways, raising awareness about polio.
Wrapped in colorful colors and impactful messaging, the truck concept was championed locally by Dave Palmer, PolioPlus Chair for Rotary District 7410. An Air Force veteran, Palmer was on a road trip to Texas in 2019 when he spotted similar messages on a commercial tractor trailer.
“In 2002, while deployed with the United States Air Force in Turkey, I witnessed a number of young people who were crippled in some way. In 2007, while deployed in Afghanistan, I witnessed similar scenes,” explained Palmer. Those memories, combined with his devotion to community service through the Rotary Club, inspired him to pursue this project in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Polio is predominantly a childhood disease and is prevented with proper vaccination. Until the 1950s, polio was common in the United States. Although the last major outbreak of polio in the United States occurred in 1977, cases have been reported in 2013 and as recently as July 2022.
Since the 1980s, Rotary International has supported a worldwide effort to eradicate polio. By definition, a disease is considered eradicated when a nation has no cases for three consecutive years.
Eager to eliminate the disease, Palmer mentioned his idea to fellow Rotarian Brian Vnuk, a partner in Brand Graphic Solutions. “It struck a flame in me,” said Vnuk of the conversation. “I knew then it was a unique opportunity to leverage what I do and the people I’ve come to know over the years. Everyone at Brand Graphic Solutions wanted to get our backs behind the wheel of such a noble cause.”
Jim Barrett of Road Scholar Transport also committed the company’s support. Currently, Road Scholar Transport has nearly 50 trucks with cause-related messages. Barrett dedicated a temperature-controlled tractor trailer to the cause. The trailer will be seen by approximately 70,000 people per day as it hauls food and pharmaceutical products along East Coast routes.
Once Brand Graphic Solutions had the green light, the Plymouth-based imaging company created the wrap for the tractor trailer. The wrap took eight hours to print and is 230 linear feet long. Two professional installers spent more than eight hours installing the wrap on the trailer.
Companies that contributed to costs associated with the tractor trailer wrap are NBT Bank; Tall Pines Farm Stoves and Fireplaces; and Tri-County General Insurance Agency, Inc.
For more information on the polio eradication initiative, please visit https://www.rotary.org/en/our-causes/ending-polio or www.endpolio.org.
Founded in 1988, Road Scholar Transport is a family-owned Pennsylvania logistics and trucking business. Services include pharmaceutical transport, high-security shipping, food grade transport, hazmat/chemical transport, expedited/emergency shipping, dimensional freight, and storage trailer rental.
Cutline: Supporters of the polio eradication project include, from left: Mary Ellen Bentler, Rotary District 7410 District Governor 2021-2022; Karen DeMatteo, Rotary District 7410 District Governor 2019-2020; Frank Soto, Road Scholar Transport Safety Manager; and Dave Palmer, Rotary District 7410 PolioPlus Committee Chair, 2019-2022. Absent from photo are: Carol Goodman, Charles Lang, Joe Loughman, Jessica Pope, Kin Roberts, Stacy Rodriguez, all of Rotary District 7410; and Brian Vnuk, Brand Graphic Solutions.
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